Quilts, Etc.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Hello! I am taking Kerri Bradford's Silhouette Class - "Hello There" which is all about using your Silhouette to make different kinds of cards. I am learning so much in this class! I have taken several other of Kerri's Silhouette classes and loved each of them. They make me try things in the software that I never would have explored before. Here are the projects I have made in class.

Day 1 Gift Card Holder. Love this - I can really use it during this upcoming Christmas season!

Day 2 Flower Card and petal envelope. A cute little note card with a pretty envelope. This would make a cute invitation.

Day 3 Doily Card and envelope. Wow - what a jaw-dropper! This card is really impressive. Would make a great wedding invite or shower invite.

Day 4 Paper Bag envelope and card. Just fun to think I can make a little paper bag to match my notes!

Day 5 Christmas card plus CD envelope. Not sure when I would use this, but it's nice to have in my arsenal if the right time comes along. It was especially fun to make the cd sleeve with the Christmas wording. You could transfer that part of it to a Christmas card design.

Day 6 Birthday Cardelope and my Christmas version of it. This was my favorite card to make - love the little zipper messages! Now I can customize them to have any sentiment I want!

And then because those looked a little boring, I went back and filled them with Christmas patterned paper and got these:

Then I made a regular A2 size card using graphics from Lettering Delights. Have you see the "What Does the Fox Say" video? That's what this collection from LD is all about.

Day 7: Airmail Envelope (double sided) and card. Today we made a double-sided print and cut envelope to fit a little Hello card. One of the KBS working files we got as part of the class was a neat ledger paper, which was used for part of the envelope. We also learned how to create a diagonal striped paper and use that on part of the envelope and card. The small card and envelope are the ones we did in the lesson, while the larger one is one I did afterwards on my own.

Day 8 - Thanks Pop-up card. This was a fun day for me. We learned how to do the pop-up section on the inside of a card for a word to pop-up. It takes a bit of work and thought, but I think now that I've done one, I could do others easier and quicker. We also made a really neat slider type envelope for the card with petal cutouts. Very pretty!

Day 9 - Butterfly pop-up card. This was a fun card too - it too takes a bit of thought on how things fit together. I really like the lacy butterfly Kerri gave us to work with. Such a cute little note card!

Day 10 - Last day! I am going to miss this class! I have learned so much - now I need to go play with all this new-found knowledge! Today we made flip cards and envelopes. First we made a standard A2 size card with a circle flip. We saved the template so we could easily go in and substitute the "flip" part for other shapes. But I can see this circle one being very useful. You could definitely stamp in the circle on the front and put the sentiment on the circle on the inside. I had a print and cut of this little frog and the inside sentiment, so I just put them on the circle for now.

The next flip card we made was used the butterfly image again. This is such a pretty note sized card - such a nice surprise when you open it up and there is the butterfly on the inside too!

Then of course, I had to make an owl flip card. It took me a couple tries, but I learned that the flip part needs to be symmetrical in order for it to be able to flip into the other side of the card. I had to work on my owl a bit to make him symmetrical, but I finally got it done! This will be a birthday card for my granddaughter who loves owls. I even added googly eyes! :)

One of the best things I learned in this class is that I can customize cards I send for a particular occasion and person. I have TONS of stamps, and I love making cards with them too, but sometimes it's nice to be able to design your card from scratch. Plus it gives me alot of satisfaction to know I am learning how to use the Silhouette software and machine - it has so much potential! Kerri Bradford's classes ROCK! She walks you through each and every step of the process. I love that I can pause the video and do what she's just done, or replay it if I need to watch again. Thanks Kerri for such great Silhouette classes!

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Hello! I wanted to share a couple pillows I made the last couple days.

I used a cut file I got from a Silhouette Forum to cut the Santa Face from freezer paper. Yes - the freezer paper you use to package meat and such for your freezer - but I have it in 8.5 x 11" pieces. I purchased a pack of sheets at a quilt show. Anyway, I loaded the freezer paper onto my Silhouette cutting mat, and used the settings for Plain Paper. After the design was cut, I weeded out the silhouette of Santa's face, and ironed the freezer paper to a loosely woven linen type fabric I had in my stash. You could use muslin also. It only takes a few seconds for the freezer paper to adhere to the fabric. Then I used a large sponge dauber from my scrapbook supplies to dab red acrylic paint over the exposed areas of the design. I allowed the paint to dry for about 1/2 hour, then removed the freezer paper. I was so pleased with the intricacy of the design and how that translated to fabric! I did the same technique with a "Ho Ho Ho" design I just typed into Silhouette using the Arial font. I added some little pom pom trim around this pillow. The design was shared by Barb Richardson over on the Silhouette SD and Cameo Users Facebook page. Thanks so much for the design Barb!

Hello again! I was at a quilting retreat last week and worked for three straight days on this miniature paper pieced quilt.

I started this quilt several years ago at a class I took at the Mid-Atlantic quilt festival. The class was taught by George and Virgina Siciliano. The actual name of the quilt is "Glow in the Dark". There are 24 blocks, each with 36 pieces in them, making a grand total of 1008 pieces. The kicker is that this quilt is only 18" square! That's why I named it "Insanity." I thought I would go crazy piecing all those tiny little pieces, but I was determined, and I finished it right at the end of the retreat. It really feels good to finished a UFO (Unfinished Object)! It's going to be hung in my craft area, where I can be inspired each day, and know that ANYTHING is possible! haha

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Hello! Wow! It's been almost a month since I've posted! October has been a very busy month around here - vacation in the Smoky Mountains, visiting with grandkids and more.

I have to take a moment here and sing the praises of my Silhouette Cameo and the Silhouette software that comes with it. The possibilities with this machine are ENDLESS! It's almost mind-boggling to think of all the things you can make with it. I haven't even touched the surface yet. I have made vinyl sayings for the walls in my home, templates to cut out and use for applique (in quilting), made banners for birthday parties, stencils for quilting, and now am using cut files to make cards! I just love this machine! I did upgrade to the Designer edition last year during a sale and use alot of the functions that provides.

I have been having fun using Lettering Delights cut files to make cards. I have invested ALOT of money into stamps for cardmaking, but am now finding out that I also enjoy making cards with cut files - especially for my grandchildren. I love the dimension the cut images give to a card! Lettering Delights has so many cute images, and they are pretty inexpensive if you pick them up on sale or with a coupon code. I follow a blog called Under a Cherry Tree, and have learned alot from Jin about cutting with my Cameo. Jin is part of the LD design team and has lots of examples using their files.

Another source I have learned alot about my Cameo from is Kerri Bradford's site. I have taken most of her Silhouette online classes and learned TONS from them. I am excited about a new class she is offering that starts November 4th. This class, Hello There, is specifically about using your Cameo to make cards. Can't wait!

Here are a couple cards I've made recently using LD cut files. The first one is a case of this one on Jin's site, but with using a different character, different background paper, and a different font.

This card is for my granddaughter for her 9 month birthday. I traced a cat image in my software and made the cut file. The card base was print and cut with the little banner added. The cat was cut out of cardstock and applied with foam dots on the front.

This is the inside of the card. Sophie's "color" is purple and I decided to figure out how to make a pop-up card in my software, It took me a few tries, but I finally figured it out.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Hello! I have been making flair, or flat back button sets for my Etsy shop. It's like eating candy - the more I make, the more I think of to make - just can't seem to stop. These flair buttons are used alot nowadays on scrapbook pages, mini albums and in jewelry. You can get them with a flat back, a sew-on back, or as a magnet. Here are some pictures of the sets I've made and put in my Etsy shop. You can go to my Etsy shop by clicking on the tag on the right of this post or by going here.

Back to School buttons

Banner Day Buttons

Flower Buttons

Merry Monster Buttons

Owl Buttons

Princess/Heroine Buttons

Robot Buttons

Seashore Buttons

Aren't they just the cutest things you've ever seen?? Well, maybe not the cutest, but aren't they cute? I just love making them and using them on my scrapbook projects. If you like them, check them out in my Etsy shop - thanks for looking!

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Hello! This month the Papertrey blog hop is all about creating or stamping wreaths. You can read all about it on Nicole's blog here.

I have a couple wreath stamp sets from Papertrey - "Wreath for all Seasons" and the "Birds and Blooms" Anniversary set, but I decided to create my wreath using the tiny little leaves in Mini Blooms.

I began gluing each tiny little leaf to the base, and built up the
layers. I debated whether to add berries to the wreath, and finally
decided to use red sequins. I dyed some seam binding with a Copic marker
for the bow, and added a little Tiny Tag cut out of wood veneer with a sentiment from Mixed Messages.

I love how it turned out - so much dimension. Not sure I would go to all the trouble of cutting, stamping, and adhering all those leaves again, but I'm glad I did this one. Hope you enjoy it and the rest of the blog!

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Hello! I purchased the Mighty Oak stamp set and coverplate from Papertrey and have finally gotten around to playing with it. I wanted to try cutting the coverplate out of cork. I made the first card using only the cork leaves, and the second card using the negative of the cork and the cork trunk. I just love all the dimension and texture cork brings to these cards! One note about using this coverplate with cork - handle the negative diecut gently - it's pretty fragile around the edges.

Card 1 using just cork leaves.

Card Two using negative of coverplate, cork trunk and stamped leaves.

What do you think? I'd love to hear your comments! Thanks for dropping by!

About Me

Hi! My name is Susan. I started papercrafting in 2010 after my daughters gave me some rubber stamps at Christmas. One thing led to another, and now I have a full studio in which I make cards and other papercrafts. In addition to photography and cardmaking, I also love to quilt. I have quilted about 15 years now. I have pictures of quilts I have made under the "quilting" tab on my blog. Thanks for checking out my blog - hope you come away from it a little bit more inspired than when you came!